Police unions urge mandatory registration of security cameras. Currently in the Netherlands, we already know the platform "camera in view". Private individuals can voluntarily register their cameras here. Because camera security works, police unions want to get rid of this voluntary nature.

It should become mandatory for private individuals to register private surveillance cameras with the government. That is what police unions, who are very much in favour of the existing voluntary register, want. In Belgium, private surveillance cameras must already be registered with the Ministry of the Interior.

"From conversations with detectives, it appears that in serious crimes it is becoming increasingly important to have images very quickly," chairman Jan Struijs of the Dutch Police Federation (NPB) told NOS Radio 1 Journaal. "There are an awful lot of cameras in the Netherlands, but we don't always know where." Now, after a serious crime, the police have to do a neighbourhood survey to find out where the surveillance cameras hang. Then, in most cases, permission must be sought from the owner whether the images can be viewed.

Images of criminals' escape routes in particular can help police work. "You see that the escape route from a serious crime can sometimes be kilometres long. It really helps enormously if you can have those images at your disposal within an hour," Struijs said on radio. According to him, there is talk among detectives of "the golden hour" to gather initial clues.

The AD, in which the unions made the call for compulsory registration, writes that two hundred thousand private cameras have now been included in the project's voluntary register Camera in focus of the police. The newspaper also writes that a growing number of Dutch people are buying their own cameras. The unions want to discuss the mandatory register with the cabinet within two weeks.

Source: Security management sheet dated 27-06 2018